Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. said it delivered a
record number of jets to China last year and expects to hand
over a similar number of aircraft this year as growth in the
world’s second-biggest economy spurs demand for air travel.

Deliveries this year to China will be in the range of 140
aircraft after handing over a record 143 planes last year, Marc
Allen, president of Boeing China, said in Beijing today.
Chicago-based Boeing, which delivered a record 648 jets
worldwide, also secured orders for more than 230 new aircraft
from the country last year, he said.

Asian growth is lifting orders for Boeing and Airbus Group
with China forecast to supplant the U.S. as the world’s largest
market by 2032, the European planemaker forecast in September.
China’s economic expansion is helping air travel affordable to
more people, increasing demand for planes from carriers such as
Air China Ltd. and China Southern Airlines Co.

“Wow, a really fantastic year,” Allen said. “What I am
even more excited about is that we see a trajectory. I can
announce today that we expect to maintain that rate in 2014 and
into the foreseeable future.”

Aircraft sales and output are surging as carriers globally
take advantage of low-cost financing to replace older models
with newer, fuel-sipping jets. Boeing’s 1,355 net orders for
2013 was the second-highest annual sales tally, and an increase
from the 1,338 a year earlier.

Asia’s Biggest

China Southern, the Guangzhou-based company that’s Asia’s
biggest airline by passenger numbers, took deliveries of 37
aircraft last year, according to Boeing’s website. That was the
second-most among carriers worldwide, lagging behind only
American Airlines’s 39, according to the website.

Boeing shares gained 0.9 percent to $141.67 in New York
trading yesterday. China Southern rose 0.4 percent to HK$2.86 as
of 9:46 a.m. in Hong Kong. Air China rose 1.2 percent to
HK$5.21.

Of the 230 orders Boeing won in China last year, 130 were
from leasing firms and the remainder from airlines, Allen said.
A third of those ordered by airlines have already gone through
the government approval process, he said.

“The low-cost carriers in China is a big emerging story in
2013,” Allen said. “We are going to bring additional personnel
to China, subject matter experts, to work with the low-cost
carriers that are starting up.”

China Travel

Qingdao Airlines, a newly established private carrier in
China, last year agreed to buy 23 planes from Airbus in a deal
valued at $2.3 billion, based on list prices. Zhejiang Loong
Airlines, recently approved by the regulator, also agreed with
the European planemaker to buy new aircraft. Airbus assembles
single-aisle planes at a factory in Tianjin, near Beijing.

China is easing aviation regulations and boosting
infrastructure spending as carriers are forecast to require more
than 5,000 planes in the next 20 years. International travel
from China will grow at an annual rate of 7.2 percent in the
next 20 years, faster than the 6.8 percent expansion for
domestic travel, according to Boeing.

Boeing has already delivered eight Dreamliners to China
Southern while Hainan Air has six, Allen said. Xiamen Air will
take delivery of its first 787 this year and Air China will get
its first 787-9 in 2015, he said.